Libertarian theories of law build upon
classical liberal
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...
and
individualist
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-relianc ...
doctrines.
The defining characteristics of
libertarian legal theory are its insistence that the amount of governmental intervention should be kept to a minimum and the primary functions of law should be enforcement of contracts and social order, though social order is often seen as a desirable side effect of a
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
rather than a philosophical necessity.
Historically, the Austrian economist
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Hayek ...
is the most important libertarian legal theorist. Another important predecessor was
Lysander Spooner
Lysander Spooner (January 19, 1808May 14, 1887) was an American individualist anarchist, abolitionist, entrepreneur, essayist, legal theorist, pamphletist, political philosopher, Unitarian and writer.
Spooner was a strong advocate of the labor ...
, a 19th-century American
individualist anarchist
Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems."What do I mean by individualism? I mean by individualism t ...
and lawyer.
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...
was also an influence on libertarian legal theory (see ''
Two Treatises of Government
''Two Treatises of Government'' (or ''Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles, and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter Is an Essay Concerning The True Original, ...
)''.
Ideas range from
anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property en ...
to a
minimal state providing physical protection and enforcement of contracts. Some advocate regulation, including the existence of a police force, military, public land and public infrastructure.
Geolibertarians
Geolibertarianism is a political and economic ideology that integrates libertarianism with Georgism. It favors a taxation system based (as in Georgism) on income derived from land and natural resources instead of on labor, coupled with a minima ...
oppose absolute ownership of land on
Georgist
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from Land (economics), ...
grounds.
Notable theorists
Authors discussing libertarian legal theory include:
*
Randy Barnett (''
The Structure of Liberty
''The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law'' is a book by legal theorist Randy Barnett which offers a libertarian theory of law and politics. Barnett calls his theory ''the liberal conception of justice'', emphasizing the relations ...
'')
*
Frédéric Bastiat
Claude-Frédéric Bastiat (; ; 30 June 1801 – 24 December 1850) was a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French Liberal School.
A member of the French National Assembly, Bastiat developed the economic concept of opportu ...
(''
The Law'')
*
Bruce L. Benson (''
The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State'')
*
Frank van Dun (The Fundamental Principle of Law)
*
Richard Epstein
Richard Allen Epstein (born April 17, 1943) is an American legal scholar known for his writings on torts, contracts, property rights, law and economics, classical liberalism, and libertarianism. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at N ...
(''
Skepticism and Freedom'')
*
David Friedman (''
The Machinery of Freedom
''The Machinery of Freedom'' is a nonfiction book by David D. Friedman that advocates an anarcho-capitalist society from a consequentialist perspective.
The book was published in 1973, with a second edition in 1989 and a third edition in 2014.
...
'')
*
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Hayek ...
(''
Law, Legislation and Liberty'')
*
Gene Healy
Gene Healy (born November 16, 1970) is an American political pundit, journalist and editor. He serves as Vice President at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, as well as a contributing editor to ''Liberty'' magazine.
Education
Healy ...
*
Hans Hermann Hoppe
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (; ; born 2 September 1949) is a German_Americans, German-American economist of the Austrian School, philosopher and political theorist. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), ...
(''
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (; ; born 2 September 1949) is a German-American economist of the Austrian School, philosopher and political theorist. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Senior Fellow ...
'')
*
Stephan Kinsella (''Law in a Libertarian World: Legal Foundations of a Free Society'')
*
Bruno Leoni
Bruno Leoni (26 April 1913 – 21 November 1967) was an Italian classical-liberal political philosopher and lawyer.
Whilst the war kept Leoni away from teaching, in 1945 he became Full professor of Philosophy of Law. Leoni was also appointed Dean ...
(''
Freedom and the Law'')
*
Robert P. Murphy
Robert Patrick Murphy (born May 23, 1976) is an American economist. Murphy is Research Assistant Professor with the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University. He has been affiliated with Laffer Associates, the Pacific Research Institute, ...
(''
Chaos Theory
Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, and were once thought to hav ...
'')
*
Andrew Napolitano
Andrew Peter Napolitano (born June 6, 1950) is an American syndicated columnist whose work appears in numerous publications, including ''The Washington Times'' and ''Reason''. He was an analyst for Fox News, commenting on legal news and trials. ...
*
Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick (; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University, (''
Anarchy, State, and Utopia'')
*
Roger Pilon
*
Ayn Rand
Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
(''
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal'')
*
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian ...
(''
The Ethics of Liberty'')
*
Bernard Siegan
Bernard H. Siegan (July 28, 1924 – March 27, 2006) was a longtime law professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, libertarian legal theorist and a former federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Cir ...
(''Economic Liberties and the Constitution'')
*
Lysander Spooner
Lysander Spooner (January 19, 1808May 14, 1887) was an American individualist anarchist, abolitionist, entrepreneur, essayist, legal theorist, pamphletist, political philosopher, Unitarian and writer.
Spooner was a strong advocate of the labor ...
(''
The Unconstitutionality of Slavery
''The Unconstitutionality of Slavery'' (1845) was a book by American abolitionist Lysander Spooner advocating the view that the United States Constitution prohibited slavery. This view was advocated in contrast to that of William Lloyd Garrison ...
'')
*
Linda and Morris Tannehill (''
The Market for Liberty'')
See also
*
Constitutional economics
Constitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the choices and activities of econo ...
*
Equality before the law
Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic r ...
*
*
Judicial activism
Judicial activism is a judicial philosophy holding that the courts can and should go beyond the applicable law to consider broader societal implications of its decisions. It is sometimes used as an antonym of judicial restraint. The term usually ...
*
Law and economics
Law and economics, or economic analysis of law, is the application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of law, which emerged primarily from scholars of the Chicago school of economics. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of law ...
*
Outline of libertarianism
*
Philosophy of law
Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of law and law's relationship to other systems of norms, especially ethics and political philosophy. It asks questions like "What is law?", "What are the criteria for legal val ...
*
Polycentric law
*
Rule according to higher law
References
* Randy Barnett (1998). ''The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. .
* Richard Epstein (2003). ''Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .
* Friedrich Hayek (1981). ''Law, Legislation and Liberty: The Political Order of a Free People''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. , .
External links
"The Structure of Liberty"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Libertarian Theories Of Law
Classical liberalism
Theories of law
Law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...